[egberts]

life honestly gets so much better when you stop hating pop music for no reason

[bepeu-deactivated20171202]

do u have a bf

it’s a dream of mine to have a beautiful farm

[ermojas]

Sherlock never needed a roommate. Either Mrs. Hudson lets him live at 221B for free or Mycroft pays for it. He had already moved in when he asked John, despite “together we can afford it.” 

Here’s what happened: 

Mike Stamford made friendly conversation with Sherlock in the lab, asking how he was getting on, etc. Sherlock mentioned he had moved to central London. 

“Oh really?” Mike said, “How’s the new place?” 

“It’s fine, nice enough rooms.”

“Rooms? You get a flatmate?”

“Ha. No. I would be a difficult man to find a flatmate for.”

Then Mike went to the park, saw John, brought John to the lab, Sherlock looked at him for 0.75 seconds and did the slidey, big pupils, toffee eyes thing, realized that Mike had misunderstood, and rolled with it. 

[wackyhappiness]

I’VE ALWAYS WONDERED WHY SHERLOCK WAS CHATTING TO MIKE STANFORD ABOUT FINDING A FLATMATE BOTH THE CHATTING AND THE NEED FOR A FLATMATE DON’T MAKE SENSE BUT THIS ACTUALLY DOES

[thepurplewombat-deactivated2019]

Season 4, the case of the missing Watson, and why BBC John doesn’t love Sherlock

So yesterday I was reading @silentauroriamthereal‘s Best of Three, again (it’s a really good story!). And I realised that the John in that story is pretty much a total dick. He’s incredibly patronising and self-congratulatory about being such a wonderful friend to Sherlock etc etc etc, all the while being actually unimaginably cruel to Sherlock.

And I left a comment to the effect that I loved the story but hated John, and she very kindly replied that she thought it was pretty in character and I had this absolute oh my god moment because she’s bloody right, isn’t she?

And somewhere between Season 4 and Best of Three and SilentAuror’s comment, I think the scales sort of fell from my eyes with regards to John and the show. It’s not that Season 4 ruined John. Season 4 was the logical continuation of where they had taken the character, arguably from the second episode. Go back and look at the way John talks about and treats Sherlock, all the way back to TBB. Try to reconcile the way John talks to and about Sherlock with the way Watson talks to and about Holmes.

Season 4 John is not out of character. Not for BBC John. It’s extreme, but it’s not actually out of character. We think it is, but I think that we have good reason for that. In my specific case, I knew and loved the canon long before BBC Sherlock came on the scene. I know Watson, and I know how he feels about Holmes. So when John acted the way he did in Season 4, I thought it was awful, and terrible, and it came as a shock to me. Before Season 4, when John acted in ways that Watson would not have, I was like “well, maybe he’s just having a bad day’, but Season 4 made me realise that Watson hasn’t been having bad days, Watson has never been here at all.

We think that John is better and wiser and kinder than he is because we spend more time with the wiser, kinder versions of John Watson that we see in the canon and in fanfiction. We’ve been blinded by those Watsons to the truth of John’s character in the show.

And that leads me to another conclusion. BBC’s John doesn’t love Sherlock. We think he does, because Watson loves Holmes, and whether you think that it’s platonic or romantic or sexual or whatever, you can’t deny that there is love there, but John? He doesn’t love Sherlock.

I think he wants Sherlock. I think he’s addicted to Sherlock. To the cases and the life they lead and the danger and all of it. And I think that, like any addict, he hates Sherlock and everything that comes with him, and hates that he needs him. And that’s why the morgue scene happens. Because John, unlike practically every other Watson in history, does not love Sherlock Holmes. Because John wishes that he had never met him and wishes that he could live without him, and knows that as long as Sherlock is alive, he will never, ever be able to leave him for good.

Which means that yes, they really did do TPLoSH all over again, with a gay Holmes desperately in love with Watson, who doesn’t love him back. Except they dialled it up to 11, because everything has to be bigger and louder and hurt more, and instead of a straight Watson who still loves his Holmes, they have given us a John Watson of ambiguous sexuality who not only does not love Sherlock, but actively despises him.

(I also have some thoughts about how Sherlock has been moving toward becoming Holmes over the course of the series, while John moves further and further away from being Watson, but I’ll save that for another time.)

[vijara]

look: the right people will get it. the right people will see you and appreciate you for the person that you are. the right people won’t require you to dilute, censor, or edit yourself in order to be worthy of their time and affection. you don’t need to waste your time on people who are committed to misunderstanding you 

[ejacutastic]

straight people: *makes literally hating your spouse a cultural norm* straight people: gays are ruining marriage

[elskudani]

Moriarty be like: I WILL BURN… you a crappy DVD full of mixed messages.

[ivyblossom]

What I am Owed

I have great respect for the BBC, commissioner of a large number of shows that I very much enjoy. I have great respect for Mark Gatiss and for Steven Moffat, both of them writers I admire who created something I love. 

But I do not care what they say about how I interpret the story they created and broadcast. And frankly I am aware that they don’t really care how I interpret it either, and they don’t mind that I share my interpretations with other fans. Steven Moffat on Sherlock fanfiction:

This, for me, is all the respect I require from the BBC, from Mark Gatiss, from Steven Moffat, from Sue Vertue, or from anyone else. I do not require any of them to endorse or confirm my perspective or my interpretation of their story. I do not require any of them to agree with me, tell me I’m right, or proceed to create and broadcast a story that would be most satisfying or in keeping with my interpretation. 

I only want the freedom to interpret the story as I see fit, to elaborate on it if I want to, and to be allowed to do so publicly and freely.

I will not ask for more than that.

[moriarlocked]

I can’t believe yet that an army doctor, better known as John Watson, couldn’t recognize between dog bones and human bones.

[finalproblem]

Maybe John was actually a vet for the dog army, but he was so traumatized when he was wounded that he reimagined them all as people.

[rozanov1221]

Jesus.

[missmuffin221]

[yelverton]

ah, murder by death. always peculiar

[pennypaperbrain]

Adults in TJLC

OK, one other thing because this is deadly serious.

We’re seeing various posts about young people calling suicide lines etc because tjlc didn’t happen.

If you are an adult and you encouraged teenagers to invest in this *barefaced drivel* you need to look at yourself a little. It only takes a basic understanding of the world to realise that powerful mainstream male British media creators were never going to shape their commercial project around the dreams of young, queer, mostly-American fans. However fair or unfair it is, it’s starkly obvious. And then they told us outright, time and again.

Don’t wank, don’t scream, just think harder next time, because yes, it is serious.

[doctornerdington]

I haven’t commented on the acronym-of-doom much, not wanting to be doomed, myself. However. I have been increasingly worried about the mental health of some proponents and, especially, some acolytes. And I absolutely agree with Penny that much of this “movement” or whatever has been driven by some seriously irresponsible adults.

Investing yourself in fandom? AWESOME! Shipping? AWESOME. But encouraging dogmatic belief is almost never a cool thing to do. I’m not saying this to hurt people who are hurting. I am genuinely sorry for your pain. But it didn’t have to be this way – it didn’t have to hurt so many people so much.

IMO, what happened here was an impressive and spontaneous attempt to engage in academic-style textual analysis – but crucially it missed the checks and balances stage: the peer review. That’s the part where you ask for wide input on your reading, where you consider the critiques, and incorporate them into your revised argument in order to make it stronger and more valid. It is ESSENTIAL. It hurts and it’s hard, but it is necessary. Fandom is so instant and so insular that peer review is easy to avoid. “Don’t like it? Block me!” I’m as guilty of that as anyone. But wow, in this case it has been dangerous. That’s something for all of us to think about and reflect on.

I love you, fandom. I’m sorry so many of you are hurting.

[iolanthee]

Reblogging for @doctornerdington‘s excellent addition. Always look for critique especially if you think you are 100 % right in something. If anything, this shitshow should be a hard lesson in cognitive bias and group-think and how easy it is to find proof for anything you want to believe. 

The subtext was there, I am never denying that, but the mistake was in analyzing the creators like they were fictional characters. The creators of this show are ordinary people who DO NOT calculate every word they say every time they step out of the house, their words do not have to make narrative sense, they probably don’t even remember what they said last week. Their words were absolutely blown out of proportion to fit the certain theories, with huge consequences. I am not blaming anyone, but I do think that certain people who have a lot of influence over the fandom also have responsibility. 

[moonjoy26]

What they wanted was not unreasonable. What’s unreasonable is saying, “This is definitely going to happen; have faith!”

[newtkins]

So there was a CLOWN and mycroft was going to duel him with his umbrella because it was actually a sword that was actually a GUN but actually it was sherlock’s plan and he was like HEY BRO! and then john was like oh yeah last ep’s cliffhanger? nah just got shot but it was a tranquilizer anyway let’s go back to baker street OH LOOK A DRONE GRENADE

Writing is my passion

[theburialofstrawberries]

ajay didn’t die for this 

[sassyll2l]

my husband’s fake trailer voiceover for the new ep: 

“Sherlock, Mycroft, and Eurus – John Watson must play the most intense and deadly game of fuck, marry, kill ever.”

[youregoingtopieinthere]

[piningjohn-deactivated20150116]

When you think about it, the pink lady scene in asip is hilarious because Sherlock is like “so hot army doctor what can you tell me about this corpse” and John is like “it dead” and Sherlock is like “this is the most incredible thing someone has ever said, thank god you aren’t as incompetent as Anderson, I’m taking you to my fav restaurant”

[lifeinpoetry]

the most painful realization of my adult life has been that most people are not interested in meaningful exchange

Elle Nash, from “nine of swords reversed,” i can remember the meaning of every tarot card but i can’t remember what i texted you last night (via sussexbound)